Hydrostrategic Decisionmaking and the Arab ... - Yale University

WOLF 233the Upper Jordan and Yarmuk “after the needs of the territoriesunder French Mandate,” and added that…in connection with this examination the French governmentwill give its representatives the most liberal instructionsfor the employment of the surplus of these waters for thebenefit of Palestine (cited in Hof 1985).The final boundaries between the French and British mandates,which later became the boundaries between Israel, Lebanon, Syria,and Jordan, were worked out by an Anglo-French commission setup to trace the frontier on the spot. They generally circumventedsettlements, divided territory on an ethnic basis (consistent with thewishes of the inhabitants), and retained the link between settlementsand their agricultural land. The results were submitted in February1922 and signed by the British and French governments in March1923 (Ra’anan 1955; Hof 1985).The frontier would run from Ras en-Naqura inland in an easterlydirection along the watershed between the rivers flowing intothe Jordan and into the Litani; the line was then to turn sharplynorth to include in Palestine a “finger” of territory near Metulla andthe eastern sources of the Jordan.Rather than include the Banias spring within Palestine as in theFrench proposal of six months prior, the border ran parallel to and100 meters south of the existing path from Metullah to the Banias.The French insisted on inclusion of this road in its entirety to facilitateeast-west transportation and communication within its mandate,as it was a stretch of the main route from Tyre to Quneitra.This northern border meant that the entire Litani and the Jordanheadwaters of the Ayoun and Hasbani would originate in Lebanonbefore flowing into Palestine. The Banias spring, meanwhile, wouldoriginate and flow for 100 meters in Syrian territory, then into Palestine.Since Palestine had a promise of water use, and also access tothe Banias Heights which overlooked the spring, the fact that theactual spring lay outside of the boundaries was not of immediateconcern. Of the headwaters of the Jordan, however, only the Danspring remained entirely within Palestine.From the Banias, the border turned south toward the Sea ofGalilee, along the foothills of the Golan Heights, parallel and justeast (sometimes within 50 meters) of the Huleh Lake and the JordanRiver. Rather than passing through the middle of the Sea of Galilee,the border ran 10m east of its shores (even if the level should risebecause of a proposed dam), leaving the entire lake, the town of El-Hama, and a small triangle just south of the Jordan’s outflow withinYALE F&ES BULLETIN